EMPTY SHELVES

Another Monday and the beginning of another cycle and as I start setting up, the empty shelves seem to call me, time to get cracking. The shelves are a pair of old doubled IKEA utility shelves that I picked up years back and can usually hold more than enough for several kiln firings which is the current plan. The course of action at the moment is to make a group of v-bowls, covered serving bowls, high sided serving bowls, wall bowls, pasta bowls, plates and a few teabowls, about 60+ pieces or so this week. This group of eight 2.5lb v-bowls is the start and will take the shelves from being empty to at least looking like something is going on in the studio making it more inviting tomorrow. Without sounding overly dramatic, sometimes the beginning of a cycle is a bit difficult, you enter the studio to a sense of stillness and silence and need to get things going, like stoking an old steam engine. I turn on the music, something peppy and most likely 80s, set up the wheel for throwing with fresh water and bats at hand if called for, get the right set of tools, in this case for terra cotta, start wedging and with a little luck within 15 minutes of so I am throwing. The studio goes from static to active in just a few moments and things all settle back in to that normal rhythm that I love. Once the throwing is done for the day, off to make several slips, it may be Monday and the beginning of another cycle, but I am always happy to get back to work even if only a weekend has held me up.